August 20, 2018
John 4:7-26 New Living Translation (NLT)
In our Scripture lesson from Sunday, I shared about how the words of Jesus had the ability to cause people to stumble. He said, “Blessed is the person who finds no occasion for stumbling in me” (Matt. 11:6). The word scandal comes from the Greek word, “skandalon.” It does not bring along the thought of causing one to be embarrassed or endure emotional pain. Rather, skandalon encompasses such things as “a trap, a snare, or a stone that causes someone to stumble. It’s an image that refers to something that makes you fall down as you are moving forward.
The skandalon never existed in Jesus’ teaching itself—he told the hard Truth. The skandalon existed then and still exists in the heart of people who are unwilling to make a journey of faith in order to seek the wisdom of God. In our passage today, Jesus meets the Samaritan woman. At first she stumbles with Christ’s words to her. They don’t make sense. He doesn’t have the right equipment. Does he really think he is more spiritual than Jacob? Ok, now he has gone to messing in my personal life! But, the woman presses in and continues to listen and she finds salvation as she confesses to her need. This woman is looking for some answers and Christ gives them to her. She grows as she worships in spirit and truth.